Buzz Out Loud 636: New rule: Press "record" Video

Buzz Out Loud 636: New rule: Press "record" Video Transcript

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>> Today is Monday, January seventh, 2008. I'm not Tom Merritt or Molly Wood. I am Jason Howell, lowly producer. It's episode six thirty six, and you're only hearing me now because we kinda had some technical difficulties. So the first part of today's podcast, if you can believe it, is non-existent. Maybe we have some fans out there that recorded the stream, I wouldn't be surprised at all. And if you have it, send it to me, cause then I can actually attach it and put it up live. But what will follow is what we do have. The show notes are gonna have everything that we talked about. We really only, in the course of the entire podcast missed the first two stories, basically summarizing what we'd seen at CES, which if you've been watching CNET TV you already kind of know what we've seen here. And then as far as Bill Gates kind of having his last keynote at CES, which I personally missed. But anyways, I will put the link to those articles in the show notes, and so keep your eyes posted. Here we join us in the midst of our podcast.

>> - he said, I think he was saying that he thought movie downloads should only cost nine ninety nine, and the studios were saying well no, they need to be at least what, fourteen dollars.

>> Right.

>> Similar to DVD prices. Sounds like he may be ooh, paying closer to seventeen dollars.

>> Well, and this follows the path of music, right? Where he got everybody on board, and then the TV shows came along and he got everybody on board eventually.

>> Um hm.

>> And now he's got everybody with the films. So will we start to see people dropping out of the films? Like you know, it's a compressed [inaudible].

>> Well no, not if he agrees to pay more. I mean the thing that happened with the music industry is he got them on board because it was totally naysense, no one believed there was a market there. And then they all got furious because they weren't getting paid enough. So if he's agreeing already to pay more, it's kind of a concession maybe to what happened with NBC, like I'm gonna have to make better deals if I want this to be a long-term thing.

>> Well then so does that mean he'll go to variable pricing on audio?

>> Probably.

>> Yeah, really?

>> He already, I mean they already kind of have, don't you think?

>> I don't know.

>> A dollar twenty nine for the DRM free stuff?

>> I think he's just gonna like start selling directly from the artist, like JZ. You can't really do that with a film.

>> You gotta stop with that, that's insane.

>> No, I Love that. That's gonna happen. You'll see, Wood. You'll see.

>> He has this new idea that like JZ would be the label, not iTunes. But then you would only get distribution through iTunes, and you would like that? Cause you know it would be -

>> No, it wouldn't only get distribution. It would be one distribution deal, he'd be free to distribute other places as well. Shouldn't be exclusive.

>> Then would it be like fifty cent JZ tracks?

>> Whatever JZ wants to charge.

>> Not fitty cent, I can believe I said that, I'm so embarrassed.

>> There would probably be some collaboration, yeah.

>> Let's move on.

>> Yeah, let's move on to Sony. We got a little more detail on the Sony BMG going DRM free. Apparently the first way you'll be able to get DRM free music from Sony BMG is by going to the store.

>> They didn't get the message about everything being digital.

>> Yeah.

>> You can go to the store and get a little plastic card called a music pass, and then you'll be able to what, use that to redeem the thing, and then maybe there'll be like a code on the -

>> Okay yeah, so it's gonna be on a little hanging thing in a rack by the CDs, and then you -

>> With the Safeway cards.

>> Yeah. That's totally what they look like. And then you, and then you go home, you scratch something off the back.

>> Come on.

>> You put in a code, and then you get your album. Whoa, that's a lot of work.

>> Really? That's a lot of work.

>> It's almost like you're proving your dedication to DRM free or something. Plus, like if you want it, you're willing to work for it. These are going to have to be in those big plastic boxes in the stores, because people will just be scratching the back off in the store to get the code.

>> Oh you know they'll be in the vacuum pack thing too, so you just argh, cut yourself trying to open, that's just silly. And also wasteful.

>> It is.

>> They should just go digital all the way, it's more green.

>> Well I -

>> That's true.

>> There's still speculation that they will be in the Amazon store [inaudible] after the Super Bowl in February.

>> Right.

>> If they're doing both, then it makes a little more sense that they would just be trying to get the people who are buying CDs to come over to buying digital music.

>> Yeah.

>> If this were their only way of distributing it though -

>> Oh, completely.

>> Yeah, forever, not a good idea. Although interesting to note that music will be watermarked.

>> Right.

>> Anonymously watermarked, so it's DRM free but with watermarking. I don't know what the other studios are doing, but we have -

>> Well Amazon stuff's all watermarked.

>> It's all watermarked?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, but it's like watermarked in the ID3 tags. Are they coming up with any other way of watermarking?

>> Yeah, it's easy to strip.

>> Well I don't know. Of course the News.com blog is speculating that Sony's gonna do it in some scary [inaudible] violating way.

>> Hmm.

>> But let's hope not.

>> They, they would never do that.

>> Also Napster is going to convert their download store to MP3s.

>> Oh.

>> This is a novel idea from Napster.

>> Napster, MP3s, that sounds like it goes together kinda.

>> Yeah, strange.

>> Sounds, feels right.

>> This is some reason, irony, it's certainly funny.

>> How weird is that that Napster would be like kinda late to the DRM free game.

>> Actually they were [inaudible] pioneers.

>> Hey you know what we should do?

>> But we were first first.

>> They're boomeranging back to the, like we were first, we didn't have to be first again, right?

>> Oh man.

>> Weird.

>> Yeah, so everything but their subscriptions will be DRM free -

>> Which makes sense.

>> - starting later this year, some time in the spring.

>> Tom has spent hours in other news today, voting for his profile on Wikia.

>> I wish, no Wikia's -

>> Modding up his search results on Wikis which is launched, right?

>> Wikia search launch, but when I went to try to vote for myself and mod up a search result, it wouldn't let me.

>> Oh really?

>> It said this function isn't active yet. Like well then what's the launch?

>> Isn't that the, the thing?

>> Let me try it again.

>> Okay. I thought that was the deal, that -

>> I'll search for you this time.

>> Anyway, Wikia search has apparently launched. You should be able to rank search results by using a simple five star system. And then there's back end systems that power it, which will be open source projects like Grub, and anybody can monkey with the search algorithms. And you know what a good idea I think that is.

>> Yeah, you know Molly loves that.

>> Anybody who has a login for the Buzz Out Loud Wikia, or any other Wikia, already has a login for Wikia search by the way.

>> Oh really?

>> Yeah.

>> Interesting. Did we tell you that the Buzz Out Loud Wiki has been promoted to a real Wikia?

>> Yeah, we mentioned that yesterday.

>> Oh we did? I don't know.

>> Were you here?

>> Yesterday was like a blur for me. Microsoft has admitted that its Office 2003 security advisory, where it said that file formats that were blocked in the latest service pack for Office 2003.

>> See?

>> Oh look.

>> So I tried to vote your Buzz Report research as a five star result.

>> Aww thanks.

>> And it says sorry, these don't actually do anything yet.

>> With a little sad face. Sad face. I like it when my error messages have sad face, that's really professional.

>> Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, I'm probably - [ laughter ]

>> Sorry, that was, that was really snotty. But come on, sad face.

>> Wow.

>> Microsoft has admitted that blocking the older file formats from Office 2003 was a mistake.

>> Oops.

>> Whoops.

>> Sorry.

>> They said the information they provided, vis a vis the insecurity of those older file formats was wrong.

>> Yeah, they said they'd missed, they misunderestimated, they underestimated the number of people this would affect. And it's one of those things where like we didn't realize anybody used old file formats, and apparently they got enough complaints that they put out some patches.

>> They, how do they, wow. Okay. I guess they thought they sold more versions of Office than they thought.

>> You can go download a patch that will unblock the old file formats and allow you to read them.

>> Right.

>> And then presumably what they want you to do is convert them, cause they're also providing another patch that will re-block the access, and fix their security flaw.

>> What?

>> Yeah.

>> Wow.

>> You're kidding me.

>> Nope, it's all in there.

>> They, un, they're gonna unblock the block and the re-block the unblocked block?

>> Well you can unblock the block and then you can re-block the block.

>> If you want to.

>> If you want to, yeah.

>> You know, for old time's sake.

>> You know, it's just a good idea to block those old file formats later.

>> They're unsecure.

>> Sony, making the PSP even cooler. They have announced that they are going to add Skype web phone functionality to the Playstation portable. You download Skype software, expected to become available early this month, as early as this month, and then PSP users can make free web-based phone calls with other PSP users, and users of PCs equipped with the Skype software.

>> This is how the PSP stays in the game.

>> Yeah.

>> Right.

>> Cause they haven't been able to take over the DS light, but they're always doing something cool like this that brings them back into your consciousness.

>> I know.

>> And you make, oh maybe that would be cool to have.

>> That consciousness is a perfect way to get it, cause I feel like every month or so we find ourselves sort of talking about the PSP again, like huh, that thing's kinda cool. Not buying it, you know, but maybe somebody did.

>> Neither does anybody else.

>> Like I often say, as I want to say, maybe I should buy that.

>> But you could do a lot with it. I mean especially if you hack it, which that's a constant battle. But -

>> Well, and -

>> Icksnay on the ackinghay auntay.

>> What? Is that, is that against the DMCA?

>> It's not encryption.

>> I don't know. I'm sure they would find a way.

>> It's just one of those firmware battles.

>> Don't they brick it though? Yeah, like I mean -

>> They bricked, they were bricking PSPs long before Apple.

>> Bricking PSPs is old school.

>> Yeah. Brick, bricking with firmware Apple? We been doing that for years.

>> My PSP's been bricked like fifty times. I'm so [inaudible].

>> Yeah, we'll throw another link in the show notes again today, at bol.cnet.com, and in the newsletter to go to the Buzz Out Loud Wikia at buzzoutloud.wikia.com. And want to thank all the folks that have been digging in -

>> No kidding.

>> - and really like, the tech [inaudible] got it promoted, and then a bunch of other people have been jumping in and really filling out the How You Can Help area, and filling in all the latest episodes -

>> It looks really good.

>> - and having debates about how we should number our old interview episodes, cause we didn't number them sequentially.

>> Ahh.

>> We just made them 630i, and that's -

>> Look, we're getting a shaking of the finger from the audience. You little librarian, you.

>> We'll be better from now on, I promise.

>> It's, the Wikia is awesome, and if you're new to Buzz Out Loud it's a great way to get caught up. Because there are recaps of all of our old episodes. Like people have gone in, and they're listening to them gradually, and filling in little summaries. You can even decide which ones you want to listen to as you're you know, starting from the beginning. There's only like tree year's worth, you can be caught up in a couple of days.

>> Oh yeah. Or a week.

>> We're not doing voice mail for reasons that we will get to later.

>> No.

>> We won't get to, we're just not doing it.

>> We'll just say it now. It's mostly an issue of time -

>> Um hm.

>> - more than anything. It's just -

>> Well yeah.

>> It takes a while to listen to all the voice mails.

>> Time and technology, cause then we'd have to pipe them in through this thing, and it's more editing in the podcast later.

>> Yeah, it's not like it's impossible, it's just not feasible.

>> So we'll save them until after, after the show. So if you are calling in, or if the voice mailbox is full, we apologize. We do have emails though, to buzz@cnet.com. Kevin, you might know as Sloanecak [assumed spelling], wrote in and said the HD war better not be over. I cannot believe for one second that Blueray has won. HD DVD is so much better. I've seen screenshots of a first gen Blueray player displaying an error message that it cannot play the disc. That's what Sony does, they don't standardize anything on the first release. So in a year they can say hey, we have new features on our discs, and oh by the way, now you have to buy a new player. HD DVD has not, and as far as I believe will never do that. They just offer firmware upgrades for the players, which I have already successfully done. I hope that Blueray doesn't win, and that people come to their senses. HD DVD is much better, Kevin.

>> Hmm, that's nice Kevin. Turns out quality doesn't matter that much.

>> I'm sure we'll hear from someone else.

>> Well Toshiba had their, their press release yesterday.

>> I wish it did, I don't know why it doesn't. But quality doesn't seem to be the winning, you know, it's the deals, it's the deal making.

>> I think HD DVD can still win.

>> Win?

>> I think they could still win.

>> But yesterday you said maybe they could prolong the fight.

>> Well we had a fire alarm at our hotel this morning, woke me up at six a.m.

>> You're welcome.

>> It was awesome. It went on for like half an hour.

>> That prompted this line of thought. Okay, so remember Don Risinger's [assumed spelling] plan for how Blueray wins, right?

>> Yes [inaudible].

>> The second step is lower the players. If they don't lower the players -

>> The price.

>> Lower the price of the players, right?

>> Um hm.

>> Lower the players, make them smaller, get them closer to the ground.

>> Littler players.

>> If they don't lower the price of the players, then folks aren't really going to dive into buying a player right away. And I think the only thing that's really gonna push people into the market is when the digital TV transition comes in February -

>> Yeah.

>> - of 2009, February seventeenth of 2009 -

>> Okay, now you're tying together a lot.

>> That's when people are gonna start going I need to get an HD TV, even though they don't need to get an HD DVD, or HD TV, they'll think they need to.

>> Okay.

>> And then they'll start shopping. When they shop two things will happen. One will be I don't really need a new DVD player, or I don't really understand this. And I'm not talking about us here, I'm talking about like the wide, wide majority -

>> Um hm.

>> - of the populous who doesn't really dig into this all the time. And they see this Blueray thing, which doesn't make any sense, and they see the DVD logo with an HD in front of it, and that's cheaper. So if they're going to buy, they buy that.

>> Yeah, but that's not until two, I was trying to like finish your whole explanation without jumping in about why you're so wrong. [ laughter ] Because that is gonna happen in 2009, like by then Blueray will either have decisively won and purchased the rights to the HD DVD name -

>> It's only a year away.

>> - and so they can use that branding. Or people, or the video delivery will be so, I know it's only a year away, but I think video delivery will be built out enough that people -

>> Well video delivery might be further along.

>> - will help keep Blueray from winning decisively.

>> That people aren't necessarily gonna be -

>> And if Toshiba, with Microsoft nipping at its heels, doesn't give up, there's still a chance.

>> Yeah, but you're saying that HD DVD has to stay alive. Well I think what happens before then is that Blueray basically just buys out the consortium. Because you've got, cause the, the hot property, you're right about one thing, which is that the hot property is that brand, HD DVD. Like the, the ability to be able to say this is an HD DVD player is huge. But I'm not sure that brand will even belong to the HD DVD consortium by then.

>> Well, and if it doesn't, I'm not saying that they're like a lock to win. I'm saying they still can. Most of how they can win though still depends on Sony. If Sony lowers the price of the Blueray players far enough -

>> They're gonna. In a year?

>> Yep.

>> Sony doesn't always do things like they should.

>> Well they signed Warner, that was the one smart, I mean they -

>> Right.

>> - already signed up for exclusive.

>> So yeah, okay. They've done something lately. They could still. I'm not saying they won't.

>> They lowered the price on the PS3.

>> But you see what I'm saying. Like -

>> Eventually.

>> There's still a path, it's just out of their hands.

>> I don't think that's a path to win.

>> They have to not give up.

>> That may be, I think that is exactly what we said yesterday, which is a path to further stalemate.

>> And really, honestly -

>> And at some point though, like people are gonna start to realize, they are gonna start to put together the fact that there aren't any movies. [ laughter ] And once they are, like I don't care what the player says on it, if somebody says like psst, FYI there aren't any movies for that player, like done.

>> Well you've got Universal exclusive on the HD DVDs, so it's about the Blockbuster, it's not the back catalog.

>> Yeah.

>> So that could still play, depending on how -

>> Even now like there aren't enough movies just to get them on Netflix.

>> I do think you're right though, that probably the major winner is gonna be the downloads, cause if you can get 'em on demand -

>> I know.

>> - through your cable system, if you do that transition because February's coming -

>> Yeah.

>> - that's where you go.

>> It's coming.

>> I think that's more likely than anything.

>> Yeah.

>> But I'm just saying, I think there's still a path. I think it's a -

>> So do we agree?

>> - totally foregone conclusion. Tried to disagree with you, but -

>> Anyway, Toshiba FYI just issued the saddest little press release you've ever seen in the world, where they just said like we're really disappointed in the Warner decision, and we kinda wish we knew what happened.

>> We're sad.

>> They said they're not giving up though.

>> They did say they're not giving up, they're plucky.

>> They still believe in love.

>> Maybe they can still win, cause everybody loves an underdog.

>> Ahh.

>> Um hm, they'll get the lady vote.

>> Throwing that in there too.

>> Michael wrote in, said hey I'm Michael from Saranac Lake, New York, with a comment on the problem with Amazon MP3. Cause we've talked about how the Amazon MP3 store, now that they have all the major labels, all DRM free, presumably after February they will -

>> Possible iTunes killer.

>> - is a big, big threat to iTunes. Michael says I've written to Amazon, and I'll let you know if I get a response. There's no way to create an allowance for children. In order to use Amazon MP3 you have to have an account with a valid credit card, and you have to use one click. You can't even use gift certificates without having the account tied to a credit card.

>> Hmm.

>> Right now my two teens get a ten dollar a month allowance at iTunes, and they would much rather have high quality DRM free music, but Amazon does not make that possible without me giving them complete access to my Amazon account and credit card.

>> Ooh, credit card. That's an interesting, that is an interesting oversight. Like I wouldn't have thought of that.

>> Well and maybe they will fix that eventually.

>> Seems like kind of an easy fix though, I don't think that's gonna be an Amazon store killer.

>> I mean there are work arounds right? You could get like temporary credit card, IDs, and only give those out, and have to change them all the time.

>> Yeah.

>> But what a pain.

>> Or just, I mean really, I think this is the kind of thing if a bunch of people wrote to Amazon they'd probably fix it. How hard is that?

>> Well he, Michael has started the charge.

>> There you go.

>> Let's see what happens.

>> Everyone who agrees, also write to Amazon.

>> We of course are picking the Best of CES. That announcement will come on Wednesday. But you also get to pick the Best of CES by going to our People's Voice page at ces.cnet.com. And I mean you, Belmont.

>> Veronica.

>> Veronica's out there in the audience.

>> Everybody turn at once. Veronica. Special guest appearance, not a speaking role, by Veronica Belmont.

>> Non-speaking role. Cause otherwise we'd have to pay her, and whoo man, her agent.

>> Yeah, whoo, muscle.

>> Anyway, go to ces.cnet.com and vote for the favorite product you've seen covered. The nominee numbers and everything are right there, you just look for the People's Voice award, and select the hottest gadget of 2008. We're, we're narrowing them down so you can have a chance to cast your vote for the product you think will be the most talked about in the coming year.

>> Yes. Announcement's on Wednesday. Voting begins on one eight, did you already say that?

>> Nope.

>> Voting begins on January eighth '08 at ten thirty a.m., and ends on the ninth at noon, the very next day. So that's Tuesday and then Wednesday, right? Tomorrow and then -

>> Sure.

>> I don't even know what day it is, it's the fire alarm. If you would like to get all the information about our show, you can go to bol.cnet.com. If you'd like to find out what date the eighth is, Google Calendar.

>> And we also will be broadcasting from here at twelve thirty every day.

>> That's right. Well tomorrow and Wednesday.

>> Tomorrow and Wednesday.

>> No, from now on.

>> Every day from now on. It's gonna be a really long -

>> We live here now.

>> For the next two days. We've got the Best of CES awards, CNET Live tomorrow afternoon at three p.m., live streaming.

>> Oh?

>> You can watch it on the web. Or if you want to come watch it in person. That's not on Thursday this week cause we're not gonna be here on Thursday.

>> Right.

>> All right.

>> All right.

>> That's enough.

>> Thanks everybody, thanks for coming.

>> Thanks for coming, we'll see you all later.

>> Bye. ^M00:18:17 [ applause ] ^M00:18:19 [ music ]